Page 38 of My Forbidden Boss

All the same quandaries and questions came flooding back.

What if I did go? What would she do?

I had reasoned that she would be forced into a face-to-face with me, with nowhere to retreat to. While I had figured that was my best chance for breaking through whatever shell Tisha had set around herself, now she sat next to me… sleeping.

Does she even want to get to know me? What if she just dared not refuse to go?

I wondered if she had changed her mind in any way. That thought alone produced a dozen potential scenarios for me to puzzle over. What I kept coming back to was whether or not she was just playing hard to get. She would’ve had every right to, but it still didn’t seem to fit. I wasn’t even sure if I was close to being in the same league as her, yet she never showed any sign that my attention made her feel uncomfortable.

Well… besides the whole, ‘You’re my boss,’ line of thinking.

I rubbed my temples, trapped in my own little maze within my own skull.

Wait, why am I even thinking about this? I don’t have time for flings, let alone anything else.

All of a sudden, it hit me.

Holy shit! Am… Am I the one trapped on this plane? Not her?

I looked over shyly, still seeing Tisha’s eyes flash over my vision like sunspots on a summer day. She hadn’t moved, but for some reason, I remained apprehensive. My eyes danced over her face, her champagne-colored hair, and down the outside of her sweater, a cardigan wrapped tightly around her narrow, sloping waist.

Her shoulders shifted, but nothing more. It didn’t matter. With my heart in my mouth, my head snapped toward the other side of the plane, but pretending that I wasn’t looking didn’t get me anywhere.

As far as she was concerned, the heavenly beauty at my side might as well have had a surgical reach into my brain. I couldn’t yet decide if she was doing it on purpose, but Tisha Crawford was, moment by moment, sliding me faster and faster down the banister of sanity. Whether intentional or not, that girl was merciless in her ability for tugging, knotting, twisting, shredding, baffling, and tangling every last strand of my synapses.

As lunacy blended with lethargy, I found myself drifting off. With my chin falling to my chest and eyes closing, my conscious concerns disappeared.

Tisha

“Miss… uh… Crawford?”

I grunted but otherwise couldn’t be bothered.

“Um… Hey…”

I rolled my neck, feeling the pillow find the perfect spot under my face.

“Uh, Miss Crawford, we’re, uh…”

A satisfied sigh escaped my chest, and I groaned peacefully through my partially parted lips. Otherwise, I remained slumbering and silent.

“Okay, we can stay here awhile. This is, uh… Hmm? What’s that, George? No, no… you go on ahead. I’m thinking that we… uh… well… I’m sure that she and I will be right out in just another second.”

Who’s George?

I shrugged and shifted my shoulders, squeezing the warmth of the firm pillow and wrapping my arms tighter around it, wishing that I could snuggle into it a little bit tighter.

In my far from lucid mind, the deep, vibrating whisper at my ear sent sensuous shivers down my spine.

“ … Tisha.”

Still, with eyes closed, I smiled contentedly and hummed. The pillow was so smooth and warm.

But then, I felt my brow furrow up against it. Reality kept creeping closer and closer until my dreams seemed to fracture all around me, and I froze, fully alert. My heart stopped, suddenly petrified as I felt my whole body begin to ache with worry.

This pillow has a pulse.

I gasped awake, peeling my cheek from Hollis’s thick bicep as my eyes rushed to confirm what I had already imagined.

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